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Football: Ray Berger named new Olympic Heights head coach

With less than a week before the start of fall practice, Olympic Heights was forced to hire a new head football coach.

The Lions made the move Tuesday, naming Ray Berger as their new coach.

Ray Berger was named as Olympic Heights’ new head football coach Tuesday. (Photo by Gary Coronado)

Berger will replace Dale Williams, who was forced to resign last week after “taking a job outside of teaching.” Williams did not coach a regular-season game at Olympic Heights, as he was hired by the school in March.

“With the job that I took, I couldn’t guarantee that I would be there every day,” Williams said. “I had to turn in my resignation.”

Berger, 51, had interviewed for the position the first time it was open earlier this year, but he took his name out of the race before Olympic Heights could make a decision due to the “attachment” he felt to his role as a crisis intervention teacher at Spanish River High.

The second time around, Berger couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

“When we called him up this time, he was actually anxious to take the job,” Olympic Heights athletic director Cindy Lucia said.

Berger has a career record of 79-58 as a head coach. He was 75-32 in two stints at Santaluces (1994-2003, 2007), and 4-26 in three seasons at Spanish River (2009-11).

“Football has been such a big part of my life,” Berger said. “I knew some day, I would coach again. I just didn’t know I would get the call in the summer time.”

With fall practices right around the corner, Berger hopes to move fast on building a coaching staff. He expects to be ready and on the field Monday for the team’s first practice.

“The first thing I have to do is get a staff together,” Berger said. “My phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to coach with me again. I’ve been quite flattered by the phone calls.”